{Learned almost everything I know without ever gaining knowledge

[myheadisaprison]

PSL with bringstheheat

Soulmates

Comments

{Fast talker, louder than a brass knocker, never learned how to watch my mouth

[notjustalostcause]

Being raised by an abusive drunk had a way of ensuring Leonard's life was never going to be an easy one, and by all accounts he was lucky enough to graduate high school. The fact that he had somehow managed to make it all the way to Central City Community College was a miracle given by the grace of some unseen god. But he made it and he's somewhere in the middle of his second semester here.

As far as he can tell, college isn't so different from high school. The cliques and groups don't just fade away and disappear because the label for the hallways changes and the classes are spread out across buildings in their own kind of cliques and departments. He is just as much a loner as he's always been, and he likes it that way. Easier to keep himself out of trouble that way.

But these are also the same idiots and assholes he's been dealing with for the near-dozen years of his school career and some of them know just the right ways to get under his skin in the worst ways. Jocks never liked him, and Leonard, at least, is glad to know some things would be forever consistent.

What started the scene outside the humanities building was hardly as important as the number of boys that currently surrounded the scrawny-looking guy running off at the mouth. There was a lot of yelling and then a fight broke out and the group of boys practically swamped Leonard. Not that he was going down without a fight-- and he gave almost as good as he got, but the numbers simply overtook him in the end.

[bringstheheat]

The fire that had killed his family was ruled accidental. Old house, bad wiring and a dry hot summer made for tragedy that was in and out of the papers just as quickly. Sure there had been whispers that the only survivor had a love of fire, but Mick had been sleeping in the barn after another of his old man's "lessons".

Foster care was a blur. Different blank looking rooms, tired parents, harried case workers. Whatever. Mick didn't care. He didn't even care that much about school until high school. A random football tryout landed him a spot on the team and he quickly became a stand out. A coach who mentored him, guided him and made sure that Mick got at least a decent scholarship. Sure it wasn't the Big Ten, but it got him into school and he was gonna do his best to get through college and do his coach proud.

He's late to practice as he catches sight of some of the other team members swarming some skinny kid who doesn't know when to shut up.

Coach is gonna be pissed.
Mick wades into the fight, pulling people off the kid and using fists and elbows and even a decent headbutt or two in order to make his point.

[notjustalostcause]

Once things clear and a majority of people gathered start to disperse, Leonard stands with his hands on his hips at the guy that broke it up. He recognizes him, not many people wouldn't after that awfully public trial about the fire at the old farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Leonard knows some people still believe he's at fault, even though everything was cleared in the end, but he never really formed an opinion.

"You didn't have to do that." he's not quite defensive, but definitely confused. Weren't those his teammates? Why didn't he just join them?

[bringstheheat]

Mick even pulls one of the guys up, clapping him on the shoulder. It's not the first time they've brawled and as long as nothing gets broken or interferes with practice, no one gets kicked off the team.

He turns his attention to the skinny guy who still decides to run off at the mouth even after the fighting stopped. He's pretty. He also knew how to take those hits. Blows across the back rather than the ribs. Lessons he'd learned at the hands of his own bastard of a father. Guess there were no shortages of bastard old men in town.

"You're welcome," he snarks in reply, hunting down the guy's backpack and handing it over.

[notjustalostcause]

"Thanks," he says, his voice a little stilted and awkward with the appreciation, and whether it was for stopping the other boys or handing him bag is up for debate. He still doesn't understand what possessed him to even bother looking twice at what his sports brothers were doing.

"My old man always says I don't know when to shut my mouth. Guess he's right." He shrugs a little as he shoulders the bag, mostly just glad that it never opened to reveal any of the contents.

[bringstheheat]

Mick isn't used to just stepping in to fights to pull someone out of trouble. So he pulls back as the kid takes his backpack and shifts a little on his feet. Mention of a crap old man earns a snot. "Yeah. Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it."

"Shit old men don't know what they're talking about."

He shrugs his own bag back on his shoulder. "I, I gotta run to class. But.. I guess I'll see you around."

[notjustalostcause]

He isn't sure what to say to that, it's hardly the sort of thing he'd want to bond with someone over. He shifts his bag on his shoulder, eyes dropping to the ground for a second before glancing back up at him.

The departing words are sudden and kind of jar him. "Oh, uh, yeah," he nods a little and shifts his bag on his shoulder. "see you."

[notjustalostcause]

Leonard was stopped by the professor after his literature class let out that morning and approached about helping another student pick up their grade a bit. He wasn't sure why he was picked for it, but he has a lot of free time and this isn't the worst way to fill it, so he agrees. They decided a time that would work best, and the professor told him to be at the library at two, and he'll set everything up.

So, here he is, sitting at a table waiting for a person he doesn't know to maybe or maybe not show up for a tutoring session.

[bringstheheat]

Mick just doesn't get literature.
Not that he doesn't read.
It's all the questions that come after. What did this symbolize? What does this mean? He's not exactly a creature of nuance and his grades were suffering for it. Another slip and his scholarship would be in danger and he won't go back to his home town. He can't.

But finding a tutor that can help him make sense of lit is almost as frightening a prospect. He'd been written off enough times in his life, he really doesn't want it to happen again. But he's got to show, he's got to at least give it a shot so he can stay in school and on the team.

So here he is in the library, looking for the right table when he pulls up short.

It's him again.
Same skinny punk he'd pulled out of that fight.
Huh.

So much approaches and sets his books on the table. "Guess you're here to try and hammer this crap into my head?"

[bringstheheat]

Mick's not watching out for the kid.
He's not.

He just.. keeps an eye out on campus in case he sees him. The rest of the team might harangue him about looking out for the guy, but it's easily ignored. He simply wants to make sure that he's safe, that he isn't catching shit on campus when he's obviously still catching it at home.

[notjustalostcause]

He had no clue who to expect, though his own biases taught from his own experiences in high school tended to lean him toward assuming it might be one of the sports players. The last person he expected was him.

"Yeah, I guess so," he shrugs a little. "So, um...Reynolds didn't really tell me what you're," a dismissive wave of his hand, "yanno, having issues with or whatever, so...that's probably a good place to start." Another half-hearted shrug. Leonard was pretty straight down to business about this sort of thing, and he hopes this guy doesn't mind that.

[notjustalostcause]

Leonard never notices the guy watching out for him, but he does start taking note of him a lot more. In the hallways between classes, in the rec room and the campus cafe, just generally existing in common areas for everyone on campus. He never speaks to him, though-- Leonard wouldn't have a clue what to say at all.

Eventually, the whole scene that day fades away from everyone's minds, taken over by the next random or crazy thing happening on campus. But Leonard is pretty sure he'll never forget it.

[bringstheheat]

Great.
Another chance to lay out what he doesn't get and another tutor that will look at him like he's yet another dumb jock. This is going to be a waste of their time. Hell. He doesn't even know the guy's name, Renyold's handwriting always was shit.

Mick rolls a shoulder. "Can read the books just fine. It's the questions that don't make sense."

I had to hunt down this picture just for this tag.

[bringstheheat]

Mick still sees him around now and then. He doesn't approach and the guy doesn't approach him either. Whatever. It's not like they had a deep and meaningful bonding moment after the fight.

But then June rolls around and the campus starts gearing up for a month of Pride parardes, festivities and so on. Football players are conscripted as security and general keepers of the peace (unofficially of course). Dressed in bright rainbow t-shirts they walk the parade line and keep the zealots and skinheads at bay. Not a bad way to spend a cool afternoon and it counts towards the team's overall community service.

He just kinda wishes he had a beer to go with it.

Whatever.
He'll get one after.

this is the most beautiful thing omg

[notjustalostcause]

Leonard opted to stick around for a few summer courses instead of going home for the break; it was easier, and his grandparents were taking care of Lisa more in the summer, so he didn't have to worry as much, either.

But the courses didn't start for another week or so and there were Things going on in every section of campus he could possibly imagine. Pride, in this specific concept rather than the broader general meaning, is something he's never really delved into. He's open enough to realize it isn't going to mean eternal damnation if a person loves someone who happens to share the same reproductive organs; but he's indifferent enough to romance and relationships that the whole thing is just sort of lost on him.

But... he's bored and literally every person he knows seems to be involved in the festivities one way or another, or just really hyped about the fact they were happening at all. So, he finds himself wandering the campus aimlessly, just vaguely glancing at all the different booths and vendors set up at random. He sticks out among the sea of rainbows everywhere in nothing more than jeans that look like they may have seen better days and a plain black t-shirt. It's a choice, but it's one he's kind of regretting since it actually manages to draw more attention to him for not sporting something bright and colorful. The tactics he hides so close behind, to be as invisible and uninteresting as possible to the people are him are kind of backfiring on him today.

He could really use a drink right now.

Lost somewhere in his own head, he bumps into someone, "Sorry," a quick apology tumbles out of his mouth as a knee-jerk reaction before he even looks at who he ran into. "Oh." That may not have been the best choice word for reactions, here. "I mean, hi." Not much better, Leonard.

[notjustalostcause]

There's something apprehensive in the air when he asks. Leonard gets that. Asking for help--or being shoved in the direction of help you didn't technically ask for--is awkward and it takes a lot. But the fact that he showed up to this predetermined meeting kind of says a lot. Mostly that he's serious about taking the help, even if he hates that he needs it in the first place. Leonard respects that.

"Well, that's vague." He mutters. "Give me an example. Like-- which one of the questions on the last quiz was the worst?" He doesn't add the already implied 'for you'; it feels unnecessarily critical and that really won't get him anywhere with a guy like-- actually... "Also, what's your name?"

:) I was inspired

[bringstheheat]

He's been run into a dozen times or more and really Mick isn't sure how it keeps happening. Not like he's a small guy and the rainbow tie dye is pretty damn hard to miss. So he turns towards the bump to make sure no one is falling and.. oh.

Snart.
Leonard.
The guy helping him make sense of Lit.

"Hey. I.. I didn't know you were sticking around for the summer."

Smooth opener there, Mick.

[notjustalostcause]

"Yeah, figured taking a couple summer classes is better than going home." He never really detailed anything to Mick about his home life, but the hints were there to imply things if a person knew what to look for.

"They enlist you for security detail?" It's the best assumption, given Mick's size and stature, and the shirt that he's seen on at least a third of all the sports guys here today.

[bringstheheat]

Leonard doesn't have to detail out his home life - Mick has put enough of the pieces together in the few times they've talked. He gets it, wanting to stay closer to campus. The Johnsons have been a godsend looking after Becky and giving him a safe and supportive home to return to, a place where he's allowed to strive for something better.

Of course Becky was the reason he was at the front lines of the parade. Social consciousness was huge at the forefront of his baby sister's mind and when she made it clear that people needed protecting so of course her big, strong brother could do it, naturally he signed on.

"Gotta do so much community service every year," he answers with a roll of his shoulder. "Seems like a good place to do it, keep out the bigots and the assholes looking to go bashing people."

[bringstheheat]

"Mick. Mick Rory," he fiddles with his pen. Finally he digs out the latest quiz, discussing the symbolism of the last work they had to read. Anything requiring analysis or interpretation was met with the most basic and up front of answers.

Mick doesn't look at him as he shoves the paper towards him, waiting for the moment when the new guy decided he was too goddamn thick to teach. "I read the damn thing three times. Hell I could quote lines at you but the questions don't make sense."

[notjustalostcause]

"Yeah, pretty sure they need all the hands they can get for the fights that are bound to break out at some point." Because it was just inevitable. Things are changing, admittedly, but society as a whole is still not ready to just accept anyone that doesn't fit the cookie-cutout norm they've carved out for decades.

"So, uh," He shifts his weight from one foot to the other as he glances around. He's curled in on himself, arms folded across his chest--a subconscious move to protect himself--obviously sidestepping people that are paying less attention and nearly run him over. The unease isn't even something he's inherently aware of feeling, but it's there, burning under his skin, guiding his actions. "How long you gotta--" a dismissive wave if his hand, "patrol or...whatever?"

[bringstheheat]

"Been a few already, but we've been able to keep the real assholes in line." And if there's one thing Mick Rory likes it's a good fight. Aside from football training, he loved to box and a good brawl was close enough. Society was shifting gradually and it was going to be people like Becky at the forefront, he was sure of it.

As Leonard shifts a bit, curling his arms around himself, Mick can't stop the way that he steps up, making himself a presence around the guy with the very definite aura of 'do not fuck with either of us'.

"Not really patrol. So far we've been workin' shifts. A couple hours on, then grab a beer at the tent, hour off to sober up and back again." A beat. "You.. you gonna hang around for a while?"

[notjustalostcause]

"Leonard." He offers in kind before adding, "Snart." Worst. Last name. Ever. He's certain someone in his family history lost a game of poker with the weirdest stakes.

He looks over the results of Mick's last quiz and, though there's no readable expression to indicate a single thing on his face, he thinks he's already getting a better idea of the guy's issue in the class. Abstract thinking and symbolism aren't always the easiest thing to get a handle on, Leonard just likes challenges.

"See this one," he points out one of the missed questions. "Your answer is too..." he didn't want to say 'obvious', because that wasn't quite right and he felt like it would be indulting and make things worse. "Literal." He pushes the paper aside, hands pressing flat against the table. "You're a pretty blunt guy, right? Real straight forward, no fancy bullshit with your words." Bear with him and his weird lime of questioning, Mick, he totally has a point, here.

[notjustalostcause]

"Yeah, I'm not surprised," he admits. Though, if he were really honest, he's more surprised that it's not his buddies starting more of the fights. He hasn't known many accepting jocks in his experiences.

"Oh, um. I dunno. Maybe?" He shrugs a little. He hadn't really...planned on hanging around for a long time, but...maybe he should. "You due a break soon or something?'

[bringstheheat]

Mick doesn't so much as bat an eye at his last name. Yeah it's unfortunate, but it doesn't much matter to him. So far Leonard hasn't looked over his quiz and determined him unteachable. Yet.

A roll of his shoulder. "Yeah. Don't see the reason to bother with the fancy bullshit and flowery language."